PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The defense rested Thursday in the trial of an 18-year-old accused of triple murder with the testimony of a woman who says his alleged co-conspirator never mentioned the defendant being involved in the shootings.

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Katie Mulvaney
Posted Jul. 24, 2014 @ 12:54 pm

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The defense rested Thursday in the trial of an 18-year-old accused of triple murder with the testimony of a woman who says his alleged co-conspirator never mentioned the defendant being involved in the shootings.

Ivy Copeland took the stand in the trial of Quandell Husband, who prosecutors accuse of plotting with three others – Timothy “Beeper” DeBritto, Donovann Hall and Russell Burrell — to rob a marijuana dealer of drugs and money in a botched heist that left three people dead.

Copeland, 27, told jurors that Hall, 20, came to her house on Nancy Street late the night of the shootings, July 30, 2012. He arrived quiet and seemingly out-of-sorts. He had texted her earlier in the day that he had something to do with “Beeper,” she said, referring to DeBritto.

She prodded him to tell her what happened, she said.

“He said they were only supposed to get money and weed … He said ‘Beeper’ had started shooting,” Copeland said under questioning by Husband’s lawyer, Thomas G. Briody.

DeBritto had warned the dealer, Michael Martin, not to move but he had tried to reach behind the refrigerator, Copeland testified. Hall told her DeBritto shot him, she said. DeBritto then shot another man and a girl who had woken up on the couch.

Copeland’s account contradicted earlier testimony by Hall and Burrell. Both have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the triple homicide. Both told jurors it was Burrell who shot to death Martin; Martin’s girlfriend, Shemeeka Barros; and their friend, Damien Colon. Hall, too, recounted that Husband had accompanied them to 151 General St. and that DeBritto had provided the 9 mm handgun but stayed at his own apartment in the Arbor Glen housing complex.

Burrell stopped short of saying one day that Husband was at the shooting scene; the next day he denied that Husband was there at all.

Hall asked her to tell police that he had been with her the entire night – which she initially did, she said. He told her DeBritto would appreciate it because he was “gun happy.” Hall asked her to wash his clothes.

“Was that the truth?” Briody asked. “No,” Copeland, the mother of five, said. She had lied to police, she said, because she was afraid of DeBritto, who was related to her younger brothers.